The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1887-05-05
Rourth PARTY,

system should stop.
A Fourth Party.
THE Labor Party. if ticket is
placed in. the field, as at present con-
templated. would draw over two thirds
of its strength from the Democrats
with any other candidate than Thur
man. ."-(Sunday Cleveland Leader.
EDITOR PRESS feel gently pro
voked to say something about the self
styled &" Labor Party" above referred
to. I was born in the dense woods of
Ohio, and have labored at trees and
grounds, at roads and fences and
houses, at mud and stone, and lumb
beyond the allotted period of human
life and am still daily struggling with
the soil and the seasons, to obtain a
living and pay my taxes. Yet as 1 re-
fleet upon the elements that make up
this SO called Labor Party" dis
cover that the farmer is not included
lis not recognized-is ignored. The
class that strikes to live, that asks for
no eight hour law, to find time to
drink beer and play ball, that is con-
fined at home from daylight till bed
time, that is tasked continually, and
sees no exemptions for the old or the
young. in any phase of weather-the
class that feeds and clothes the world,
and constitutes at least one half of the
population and performs eight tenths
of all the manual labor done in tho
country, is denied all credit and forbid
admission into the ranks of this mod
ern Labor Party.
fl had Whitfield shoe pegs, split
matches, tended switch, nodded stove
plates, hammered nails, dug in a coal
mine-and paid no taxes, and borne
no public burdens whatever, / supp ose
I could have been tick keted as laborer
and terror to either of the old parties
that have made and ruled this nation.
tits possible it may be conceded that
the farmer is q labOrer, but a rustic,
rural, country laborer, and not in a
condition to combine with the manu-
featuring, professional and trade rings
that ornament the nights in our cities.
1t is very probable that it may be ad-
mitted that the farmer is somewhat
useful as q pretext for large assess
ments and expenditures of money for
AgriculturalColleges and Agricultural
Bureaus, inhabited, and polluted for
the most part by such as farm life has
spued out and disowned.
Oh, yes. the farmer is convenient,
but. A member of the Ohio Legis-
lature for the last two years, who Sc
cured his seat on the butter question,
once said, I" 1t was no use to try to
make anything of the farmer; he be-
lOnged to stupid class, and there was
no help for him." A merchant, now
in one of our cities, said, i've consid-
er the farmer legitimate prey"-and
SO does every Board of Trade, and Ex-
change and boycotters.
The discordant elements of this So
called Labor Party that is now threat
ening the old parties and the old forms
of order and prosperity. hold out no
promise of benefit to the farmer. If
they should eventually combine to
form party it is impossible to see
now which element will prevail.
Land holding is considered monopo.
ly by some of them.
Whenever the farmers of this csun-
try agree to combine they would be
entitled to call themselves the Labor
Party if they wanted to But labor
produces, and the farmer is producer.
ALI the products of the country are
first his by virtue of his labor and
the rest live by trading and exchange
in them. Should the producers COM
bine and form party and ignore all
other organizations, demanding of
lawyers, doctors and priests less fees
and salaries, demanding of govern
ment a much lower scale of expenses,
and turning out the idlers and sine
cures that hang to the bags of the ex-
chequer, it would be a consummation
devoutIy to be wished. Producers
could easily form a homogental plat
form, if they knew enough to keep out
craftsmen and shelf the worthless
They would soon learn to pay only
for what they wanted, and simplify
the science of government. They
might, for the first time in human his
tory, practically illustrate the lesson
that he who plants the vine and fig
tree should have fair proportion of
the wine and fruit that is produced.
This Producers Party would for the
present be the fourth on the list. But
after it had swallowed up all the
others, it and the people would be
left. *x*